Field of the Invention
The present disclosures are generally related to a device used in a body lumen such as a blood vessel and a method of using the same.
Description of the Related Art
A variety of disease conditions can be caused, at least in part, by blockage or, occlusions or clots of blood vessels. A well-known example of such conditions includes, but is not limited to stroke. Other such conditions include a myocardial infarction, limb ischemia, occlusions or clots of vascular grafts and bypasses, and venous thromboses.
A stroke is often referred as a “brain attack.” It often results in rapid and significant loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. As a result, inabilities in movement, use of language, vision and many other biological functions may be temporarily or irreversibly impaired. Strokes are either hemorrhagic (due to bleeding) or ischemic (due to inadequate blood supply). The majority of strokes are ischemic. It is estimated that about 700,000 ischemic strokes occur in the United States annually. The major causes of an ischemic stroke include thrombosis (clotting) in a blood vessel supplying the brain or an embolus from another source such as the heart going to a blood vessel supplying the brain. Sometimes a thrombosis occurs where there is a pre-existing stenosis of blood vessels in the brain, usually from atherosclerotic disease.
Treatments for acute ischemic stroke are concentrated on re-establishing blood flow to the brain as quickly as possible. They include the use of a drug such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a thrombolytic agent (clot-busting drug). More recently devices such as the Stentriever devices (Trevo, Stryker, Fremont, Calif.; Solitaire, Covidien, Irvine, Calif.) and suction thrombectomy catheters (Penumbra, Inc., Alameda, Calif.) have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for thrombectomy in acute stroke. These devices do not always achieve complete recanalization. Sometimes they fail to open the vessel at all or may only partially open the vessel. They also may take some time to work, with multiple passes of the devices into the intracranial circulation needed before the vessel is reopened. In addition, they may fragment the clot and allow some portion of the clot to go out more distally in the cerebral circulation. There is a need for devices with high rates of complete recanalization, with complete or partial clot capture, performed in a more rapid manner.